Virginia
Former assistant principal charged with child neglect in case of boy, 6, who shot teacher
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — A former assistant principal at a Virginia elementary school has been charged with felony child neglect more than a year after a 6-year-old boy brought a gun to class and shot his first-grade teacher.
A special grand jury in Newport News found that Ebony Parker showed a reckless disregard for the lives of Richneck Elementary School students on Jan. 6, 2023, according to indictments unsealed Tuesday.
Parker and other school officials already face a $40 million negligence lawsuit from the teacher who was shot, Abby Zwerner. She accuses Parker and others of ignoring multiple warnings the boy had a gun and was in a “violent mood” the day of the shooting.
Criminal charges against school officials following a school shootings are quite rare, experts say. Parker, 39, faces eight felony counts, each of which is punishable by up to five years in prison.
The Associated Press left a message seeking comment Tuesday with Parker’s attorney, Curtis Rogers.
Court documents filed Tuesday reveal little about the criminal case against Parker, listing only the counts and a description of the felony charge. It alleges that Parker “did commit a willful act or omission in the care of such students, in a manner so gross, wanton and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life.”
Newport News police have said the student who shot Zwerner retrieved his mother’s handgun from atop a dresser at home and brought the weapon to school concealed in a backpack.
Zwerner’s lawsuit describes a series of warnings that school employees gave administrators before the shooting. The lawsuit said those warnings began with Zwerner telling Parker that the boy “was in a violent mood,” had threatened to beat up a kindergartener and stared down a security officer in the lunchroom.
The lawsuit alleges that Parker “had no response, refusing even to look up” when Zwerner expressed her concerns.
When concerns were raised that the child may have transferred the gun from his backpack to his pocket, Parker said his “pockets were too small to hold a handgun and did nothing,” the lawsuit states.
A guidance counselor also asked Parker for permission to search the boy, but Parker forbade him, “and stated that John Doe’s mother would be arriving soon to pick him up,” the lawsuit stated.
Zwerner was sitting at a reading table in front of the class when the boy fired the gun, police said. The bullet struck Zwerner’s hand and then her chest, collapsing one of her lungs. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and has endured multiple surgeries as well as ongoing emotional trauma, according to her lawsuit.
Parker and the lawsuit’s other defendants, which include a former superintendent and the Newport News school board, have tried to block Zwerner’s lawsuit.
They’ve argued that Zwerner’s injuries fall under Virginia’s workers’ compensation law. Their arguments have been unsuccessful so far in blocking the litigation. A trial date for Zwerner’s lawsuit is slated for January.
Prosecutors had said a year ago that they were investigating whether the “actions or omissions” of any school employees could lead to criminal charges.
Howard Gwynn, the commonwealth’s attorney in Newport News, said in April 2023 that he had petitioned a special grand jury to probe if any “security failures” contributed to the shooting. Gwynn wrote that an investigation could also lead to recommendations “in the hopes that such a situation never occurs again.”
California
Family of businessman killed in helicopter crash sues company
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The family of a Nigerian business leader who died in a Southern California helicopter crash that killed five others in February filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming the flight should have been grounded because of treacherous weather.
Relatives of Abimbola Ogunbanjo, the former chair of the Nigerian stock exchange, allege in the court filing that the charter company, Orbic Air LLC, improperly flew the helicopter despite a “wintry mix” of snowy and rainy conditions in the Mojave Desert where the crash occurred on Feb. 9.
Ogunbanjo, 61, was killed along with Herbert Wigwe, chief executive of Nigeria’s Access Bank, and Wigwe’s wife and 29-year-old son. Ogunbanjo was on his way to Las Vegas to attend the Super Bowl.
Both pilots — Benjamin Pettingill, 25, and Blake Hansen, 22 — also died. They were licensed as commercial helicopter pilots as well as flight instructors.
Andrew C. Robb, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, said Ogunbanjo’s family is seeking “answers and accountability.”
“Helicopters do not do very well in snow and ice,” Robb told The Associated Press. “This flight was entirely preventable, and we don’t know why they took off.”
Ogunbanjo’s wife and two children filed the suit in San Bernardino County Superior Court on Wednesday against Orbic Air and its CEO, Brady Bowers, alleging wrongful death and negligence.
The suit also names the unidentified successors of Pettingill and Hansen, whom Ogunbanjo’s family also faults.
Orbic Air did not reply to an email and phone call seeking comment.
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the cause of the crash. In February, the agency released a preliminary investigation report that outlined the helicopter’s flight path and provided details about wreckage that was strewn across 100 yards (91 meters) of desert scrub.
Investigators found the fuselage was fragmented, and the cockpit and cabin were destroyed. Damage to the engine and the metal deposits that were found would indicate that it was operational at the time of the crash.
The report cited law enforcement, saying several witnesses who were traveling in vehicles along Interstate 15 had called 911 to report observing a “fireball” to the south. The witnesses reported that it was raining with a mix of snow.
The helicopter left Palm Springs Airport around 8:45 p.m. on Feb. 9 and was traveling to Boulder City, Nevada, which is about 26 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Las Vegas, where the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers were set to play that Sunday in Super Bowl 58.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and payment for Ogunbanjo’s burial and funeral expenses, as well as other damages.
Robb’s firm, Robb and Robb LLC, represented Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, in her lawsuit against the pilot and owners of the helicopter that crashed in Calabasas in 2020, killing the NBA star, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others. The lawsuit was settled in 2021 for an undisclosed amount.
Former assistant principal charged with child neglect in case of boy, 6, who shot teacher
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — A former assistant principal at a Virginia elementary school has been charged with felony child neglect more than a year after a 6-year-old boy brought a gun to class and shot his first-grade teacher.
A special grand jury in Newport News found that Ebony Parker showed a reckless disregard for the lives of Richneck Elementary School students on Jan. 6, 2023, according to indictments unsealed Tuesday.
Parker and other school officials already face a $40 million negligence lawsuit from the teacher who was shot, Abby Zwerner. She accuses Parker and others of ignoring multiple warnings the boy had a gun and was in a “violent mood” the day of the shooting.
Criminal charges against school officials following a school shootings are quite rare, experts say. Parker, 39, faces eight felony counts, each of which is punishable by up to five years in prison.
The Associated Press left a message seeking comment Tuesday with Parker’s attorney, Curtis Rogers.
Court documents filed Tuesday reveal little about the criminal case against Parker, listing only the counts and a description of the felony charge. It alleges that Parker “did commit a willful act or omission in the care of such students, in a manner so gross, wanton and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life.”
Newport News police have said the student who shot Zwerner retrieved his mother’s handgun from atop a dresser at home and brought the weapon to school concealed in a backpack.
Zwerner’s lawsuit describes a series of warnings that school employees gave administrators before the shooting. The lawsuit said those warnings began with Zwerner telling Parker that the boy “was in a violent mood,” had threatened to beat up a kindergartener and stared down a security officer in the lunchroom.
The lawsuit alleges that Parker “had no response, refusing even to look up” when Zwerner expressed her concerns.
When concerns were raised that the child may have transferred the gun from his backpack to his pocket, Parker said his “pockets were too small to hold a handgun and did nothing,” the lawsuit states.
A guidance counselor also asked Parker for permission to search the boy, but Parker forbade him, “and stated that John Doe’s mother would be arriving soon to pick him up,” the lawsuit stated.
Zwerner was sitting at a reading table in front of the class when the boy fired the gun, police said. The bullet struck Zwerner’s hand and then her chest, collapsing one of her lungs. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and has endured multiple surgeries as well as ongoing emotional trauma, according to her lawsuit.
Parker and the lawsuit’s other defendants, which include a former superintendent and the Newport News school board, have tried to block Zwerner’s lawsuit.
They’ve argued that Zwerner’s injuries fall under Virginia’s workers’ compensation law. Their arguments have been unsuccessful so far in blocking the litigation. A trial date for Zwerner’s lawsuit is slated for January.
Prosecutors had said a year ago that they were investigating whether the “actions or omissions” of any school employees could lead to criminal charges.
Howard Gwynn, the commonwealth’s attorney in Newport News, said in April 2023 that he had petitioned a special grand jury to probe if any “security failures” contributed to the shooting. Gwynn wrote that an investigation could also lead to recommendations “in the hopes that such a situation never occurs again.”
California
Family of businessman killed in helicopter crash sues company
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The family of a Nigerian business leader who died in a Southern California helicopter crash that killed five others in February filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming the flight should have been grounded because of treacherous weather.
Relatives of Abimbola Ogunbanjo, the former chair of the Nigerian stock exchange, allege in the court filing that the charter company, Orbic Air LLC, improperly flew the helicopter despite a “wintry mix” of snowy and rainy conditions in the Mojave Desert where the crash occurred on Feb. 9.
Ogunbanjo, 61, was killed along with Herbert Wigwe, chief executive of Nigeria’s Access Bank, and Wigwe’s wife and 29-year-old son. Ogunbanjo was on his way to Las Vegas to attend the Super Bowl.
Both pilots — Benjamin Pettingill, 25, and Blake Hansen, 22 — also died. They were licensed as commercial helicopter pilots as well as flight instructors.
Andrew C. Robb, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, said Ogunbanjo’s family is seeking “answers and accountability.”
“Helicopters do not do very well in snow and ice,” Robb told The Associated Press. “This flight was entirely preventable, and we don’t know why they took off.”
Ogunbanjo’s wife and two children filed the suit in San Bernardino County Superior Court on Wednesday against Orbic Air and its CEO, Brady Bowers, alleging wrongful death and negligence.
The suit also names the unidentified successors of Pettingill and Hansen, whom Ogunbanjo’s family also faults.
Orbic Air did not reply to an email and phone call seeking comment.
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the cause of the crash. In February, the agency released a preliminary investigation report that outlined the helicopter’s flight path and provided details about wreckage that was strewn across 100 yards (91 meters) of desert scrub.
Investigators found the fuselage was fragmented, and the cockpit and cabin were destroyed. Damage to the engine and the metal deposits that were found would indicate that it was operational at the time of the crash.
The report cited law enforcement, saying several witnesses who were traveling in vehicles along Interstate 15 had called 911 to report observing a “fireball” to the south. The witnesses reported that it was raining with a mix of snow.
The helicopter left Palm Springs Airport around 8:45 p.m. on Feb. 9 and was traveling to Boulder City, Nevada, which is about 26 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Las Vegas, where the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers were set to play that Sunday in Super Bowl 58.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and payment for Ogunbanjo’s burial and funeral expenses, as well as other damages.
Robb’s firm, Robb and Robb LLC, represented Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, in her lawsuit against the pilot and owners of the helicopter that crashed in Calabasas in 2020, killing the NBA star, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others. The lawsuit was settled in 2021 for an undisclosed amount.
